Weekly Spots

POSTED: November 19, 2012

(White Plains, NY) November 19, 2012 – According to Arbitron, Birmingham, AL is the 60th largest radio market with a population of 901,200.

• Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama and contains about one-quarter of the entire population of Alabama.

• Birmingham was founded in 1871, just after the American Civil War, through the merger of three pre-existing towns. Birmingham was named for Birmingham, England, once one of the major metal manufacturing industrial cities of Great Britain. Birmingham was once called “the Pittsburgh of the South” due to its steel plants; it’s also known as Magic City.

• As the city grew, other industries kicked in, including banking, telecommunications, transportation, electrical power transmission, medical care, college education and insurance.

• Some of the schools of higher learning in Birmingham: The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Samford University (includes the Cumberland School of Law), Birmingham School of Law, Miles College (includes the Miles Law School), Jefferson State Community College and Birmingham-Southern College.

• Although the city fields no professional teams, Birmingham is home to the Birmingham Barons, the AA minor league affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, which plays at Regions Park.

• Famous people from Birmingham: actresses Courteney Cox, Amber Benson, Nell Carter, Ashley Crow and Kate Jackson; football coach Bobby Bowden; NFL’s Tim Castille; political activist Angela Davis; American Idol’s Dianna DeGarmo; author Fannie Flagg; jazz great Lionel Hampton; track star Carl Lewis and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

BIRMINGHAM SPOT TEN

In Birmingham last week the #1 radio advertiser was DIAMONDS DIRECT with 691 spots. Coming in #2 was GEICO with 587 ads, while THE HOME DEPOT was #2 airing 530 spots. SEARS advanced from #13 up to #4 with 465 commercials and STATE FARM locked in at #5 with 381 spots. HERITAGE FOR THE BLIND was #6 running 359 spots, while the US DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION parked at #7 with 350 ads. AUTOZONE moved up from #23 to #8 with 348 spots and CROWN AUTOMOBILE dealer ascended to #9 from #75 with 344 ads. The HOMEADVISOR (Internet Service) was #10 with 329 spots.

HAIR PRODUCTS SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

This category was a little thin last week with the #1 advertiser, REGENIX, only running 95 spots. HOLLYWOOD BEAUTY SUPPLY was #2 with 94 spots, while KERANIQUE captured #3 with 50 ads. PH COLLECTION was #4 running 48 spots and NEW IMAGE HAIR CLINIC was #5 with 24 spots. HAIR TRANSPLANT SERVICES was #6 airing 22 spots, while HAIR TRANSPLANT SEATTLE was #7 with 21 ads. KOUTURE HAIR COLLECTION was #8 with 17 spots and AVACOR landed at #9 with 16 spots. NU HAIR came in #10 with 15 spots.

NATIONAL SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

Stepping back into #1 last week it was THE HOME DEPOT running 47,696 spots. GEICO eases back into #2 with 29,625 spots, while MCDONALD’S was solid at #3 airing 25,875 spots. SEARS moves in to #4, from #11 with 23,433 spots. Up from #13 up to #5 with 22,360 spots was FOX TELEVISION NETWORK. Of note: iHEARTRADIO was #9 with 17,283 spots.

Posted: November 19, 2012

SONIC Corp. is an Oklahoma City-based, publicly held company that owns, operates and franchises SONIC Drive-Ins (NASDAQ: SONC).

In 1953, the prototype of the first SONIC Drive-In opened in Shawnee, Okla. SONIC was founded by Troy Smith and was originally named Top Hat Drive-In.

Upon learning that the Top Hat name was already trademarked, the name was changed to SONIC in 1959.

SONIC's unique use of curbside speakers to allow customers to place food orders without ever leaving their cars, spawned the slogan "SONIC, Service with the Speed of Sound." In recent years, that slogan has been replaced with "SONIC®, America's Drive-In®".

After the name change, the first SONIC sign was installed at the former Top-Hat Drive-In located in Stillwater. Because the first SONIC sign was installed there, the Stillwater location has been considered to be the first SONIC Drive-In; the original sign can still be seen at that location.

Fast Lane SONIC, which specializes in made-to-order fast food, is known for its specialty menu items and personal service. SONIC's unique menu items include TOASTER® Sandwiches (sandwiches served on thick Texas Toast), Footlong Quarter Pound Coneys (hot dogs with chili and cheese), Onion Rings, Tater Tots and a variety of Frozen Favorites® desserts and Fountain Favorites® drinks.

There are 398,929 drink combinations making SONIC Your Ultimate Drink Stop!® SONIC's ever-growing menu includes real Fruit Smoothies.

In December 2008, SONIC launched a system-wide value menu. SONIC's Everyday Value Menu allows customers the opportunity to build a value-oriented three-piece meal or add sides and snacks to their order.

SONIC serves approximately 3 million customers daily at more than 3,147 locations.

According to their annual report, SONIC produced revenues of $543.73 million with a net income of $36.09 million. As of August 31, 2012, they had 314 full-time corporate employees and approximately 11,200 full-time and part-time restaurant employees.

On Local Cable, SONIC ran a total of 160,691 spots in the last 12 months. The biggest month was September with 22,806 spots.

SONIC ran 44.84% of all their ads on Radio and in the last 12 months cleared 223,945 spots. They ran the most in the month of July when they blasted out 23,385 spots.

On Broadcast TV, SONIC ran 114,780 ads in the last 12 months with the hottest month being March when they ran 15,063 spots.

POSTED: November 19, 2012

DISH Network (NASDAQ:DISH), through its subsidiary DISH Network L.L.C., as of June 30, 2010 provided more than 14.3 million satellite TV customers with high quality programming and technology in their homes.

Subscribers have access to more than 200 national HD channels with the ViP 922, the world's only DVR with built-in Sling functionality, which allows customers “place shifting.” Users log-in to the device via a piece of software on their computer from anywhere in the world and have full control of their tuner and can watch television from wherever they want.

DISH Network is first in customer satisfaction among all cable and satellite providers according to the 2010 American Customer Satisfaction Index survey results for the U.S. largest cable and satellite TV providers.

DISH Network is the offspring of EchoStar Satellite L.L.C., a satellite TV equipment distributor founded by CEO Charlie Ergen, his wife Candy and their friend Jim DeFranco in 1980.

In 1987, EchoStar filed for a Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) license with the FCC and in 1992, was granted access to orbital slot 119° West Longitude. With the successful launch of the EchoStar I satellite in December 1995, EchoStar established the DISH Network brand name in early 1996 and began providing a wide array of programming to consumer homes.

Since then, EchoStar and DISH Network launched a number of satellites to accommodate the companies' rapid growth, and count 14 owned and leased satellites in their shared fleet.

In January 2008, EchoStar and its DISH Network subsidiary split into two separate companies, DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) and EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS).

EchoStar Corporation now serves as a key technology partner to DISH Network Corporation.

According to their annual report, DISH Network produced revenues of $14.05 billion with net income of $1.52 billion. This represented an 11.1% increase in 2011. They have 34,000 employees.

DIRECTV (NASDAQ: DTV) has a legendary beginning when Hughes Electronics gained FCC approval to build and operate a direct broadcast satellite system, or DBS back in 1984. The satellite DIRECTV-1 was launched on December 17, 1993 and in 1994, Hughes Electronics founded DIRECTV and premiered the first North American offering of DBS service.

Often called the "minidish", this new satellite dish was considerably smaller than what consumers were used to - approximately 18 inches in diameter - and much more manageable than those large, cumbersome TVRO satellite dishes from our past.

In 1998, with over 4 million subscribers, DIRECTV Satellite entered into an agreement to purchase its partner, US Satellite Broadcasting for over $1.3 billion in stocks and cash. In July of 1998, DIRECTV invested $250 million in XM satellite radio.

In 1999, DIRECTV acquired Primestar, Inc. along with their 2.3 million subscribers. As part of the transaction, DIRECTV inherited Primestar's satellite assets - specifically, 11 transponders and two satellites - giving them high-powered DBS frequencies to provide full coverage of the continental United States.

By 2001, DIRECTV Satellite had gained over 10 million subscribers. That same year they attempted to merge with its prime competitor, EchoStar Communications, the parent company of DISH Network. In 2003, the merger fell through, which may have motivated Hughes Electronics to sell their holdings in DIRECTV to the News Corporation that same year.

2003 DIRECTV rolled out a new high-definition video recorder.

In DIRECTV latest annual report they show revenues of $27.23 billion with a net income of $2.61 billion, which represented sales growth of 13% in 2011. They have 25,700 employees.

Talk about putting your money where your product lives; both satellite delivery systems ran spots on Local Cable. DIRECTV ran 488,637 spots in the last 12 months, while DISH Network cleared 19.9% as many spots: 97,252 ads. The biggest month for DISH was last month with 14,570 spots. DIRECTV ran hottest in August with 47,307 spots.

On Radio, we see one company is a big believer, while the other less. DIRECTV ran only 15,439 spots on radio, while DISH Network cleared 401,209 spots in the last 12 months. DISH ran the most spots in the month of July totaling 93,710 spots, while DIRECTV peaked in September with 3,273 ads.

On Broadcast TV, DISH was clearly out ahead with 458,453 spots in the last 12 months, while DIRECTV ran 75,661 ads. DISH ran the most spots in March of 2012 with 54,782 spots against DIRECTV who ran hottest in September 2012 with 10,169 spots.

Posted: November 19, 2012

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